Today is the start to a new life

Yesterday was a very bittersweet day. It was my last day at a place that I held employment for the last six years. It was going to become a financial burden for me to continue to work there because of new company policy changes in 2012.

But what makes it exciting, new and a little bit scary, is that my husband and I made the decision for me to stay at home with our two girls. !!!! I'm so lucky and so blessed.

What is so bittersweet about the whole thing is that I liked what I did. We covered the local news media in cities I lived in and I was good at what I did and enjoyed doing it. I loved my 'break' and the adult interaction and friendships. The other bittersweet thing is we had to say 'see ya soon' to our day care provider. I've written about her before and how much she brought to our girls' lives and to ours. She taught them things I could never (Spanish) and provided a loving and nurturing environment.

As a send off for employees, our crew makes a newspaper cover and here's what mine looks like. The articles are hilarious and the 'cherry thunder' air freshener smells awful and has been an inside joke.

Note: Upper right side, "Irish Twins blog takes off, Mom in discussions with TV network." Next Kelle Hampton?! ;)

The night before Christmas

I'm gunna say it because every parent is thinking it, the days before Christmas are tough with little ones. They don't behave, listen or stop fighting just because Santa will be here in T-minus 24 hours. Right?!

Instead of pulling out my hair today, I really tried to enjoy the magic of why they are acting crazy. Christmas!!! Santa is almost here!!!

Tonight we ate dinner, cleaned up messes every hour, wrote letters to Santa (well and to Frosty because Emma doesn't 'like' Santa, just Frosty, and she refused to write it to Santa) and waited for daddy to come home work.

I can't WAIT for tomorrow morning. To see their little legs travel down the staircase and to see their faces light up!!

Merry Christmas!!!

Christmas traditions 2011

This year was an important year to take note and really think about the Christmas traditions I want to start. Ones the girls love and will continue to as they get older. Ones like making cookies and delivering them to neighbors and friends, decorating the house inside and out, putting up the Christmas tree, decorating gingerbread men/houses and wrapping and putting presents under the tree.

Some of the biggest thrills this year were eating cookies (and the dough!), decorating with lights, turning on the lights especially the tree lights, wrapping presents and putting them under the tree and delivering cookies to neighbors.

My favorites were threatening good behavior with Santa's watching, baking cookies and seeing the magic of Christmas again through a child's eyes. And the free 12-foot tree my husband scored from a customer. It is beautiful!!!

Personally the ultimate is remembering why we celebrate this holiday. Our Savior. He was born on Christmas and by making it a point to tell the kids that it is Jesus' birthday.

Merry Christmas to everyone!!!

Ten Things for Thursday

Stolen straight from Rebecca at Unexplained X2  Here are my Ten Things for Thursday:

Ten things I love:
1. Date night with my husband last night.
2. Rib eye steak with crispy/fried onion strings, with sauteed onions and mushrooms underneath a healthy serving of melted cheese.
3. My house all decorated for Christmas.
4. That my girls might be on the cover of the weekly newspaper again (sitting on Santa's lap).
5. Friends that understand exactly what I'm going through as a mother.
6. Someone left out plain M&M's and peanut M&M's out in our production area at work.
7. Coming home from a long day at work, after a commute... and seeing our outside Christmas lights on.
8. My new jeans I bought last night with my birthday money.
9. A closing store sale where I was able to get a pair of ballet shoes for Ava at 50% off!
10. The way my girls love me and want me 24/7 and cry for me when I'm at work (even though I look forward to these days when I have my 'alone' time).

Ten things I hate:
1. Having to get up after my alarm goes off to go to work.
2. Tail gaters.
3. Evil co-workers that are out to make my life hell, yet act like they care.
4. Medical premiums.
5. My plans of cleaning the bathrooms tomorrow.
6. That it's almost Christmas-- I want another month with my tree and the magical of Christmas through my kids' eyes!
7. Thank you's via text message.
8. Cold coffee.
9. Barbie accessories.
10. Dog hair.

Ten things I don't give a *beep!* about:
1. What celebrities crave/hate/love about being pregnant. All women feel the all different kinds of strange things
2. Back stabbers that try to reconnect with me to haunt me.
3. CEOs.
4. The leaves that still sit in piles in my front yard. Knowing it bugs the hell out of my neighbor just makes me smile (he blows our leaves back onto our lawn).
5. How much I spent on the girls for Christmas, even though it's a lot more than I had really wanted to. It's about the magic, man!
6. Fairness amongst the other kids' presents we have to buy for Christmas.
7. Saying very loudly, "MERRY CHRISTMAS!" to every checker that wishes me "Happy Holidays!"
8. The playroom and the mess in it.
9. My unpolished toes.
10. The mess in the back seat of both of our cars. We have to kids. We commute. :)

Play along with Rebecca by clicking here.

'It's my birthday.. and I will cry if I want to!'

I'm not one to advertise that it is my birthday, but I guess as you get older and past the woes of being over the 30 mountain, you do go all out to scream it to the world!

Best moment so far, well two moments, were when Emma got SO excited about singing 'Happy Birthday' to her mommy, she ran over to me as they were lighting the candles... Sat down next to Mr and exclaimed, 'It's happy birthday to mommy! Happy birthday to mommy!!!'

And last night, my honey coming home from a late night at work with not only flowers and a card, but a balloon. Took me right back to my middle school and high school days and I had that smell if childhood from that time. From a balloon. From the tens or twenties of balloons .... Smell ... I would experience in middle school and high school.

Walk for Preclampsia

I have been reunited with an old friend from high school (thank you, again, Facebook!) and we are going to team up and do the Promise Walk for Preeclampsia. Stay tuned for more details with fundraising options to support something that is so close and dear to my heart.

Take 1

Santa in our house is an exciting thing this year. More than last year. Their Santa photo made it to the front page of the Pleasanton Weekly. Classic picture. Both crying. Hysterically.

So since year they want to do it again. With Santa crying and the girls smiling.

Not sure if it can be achieved since Emma is Ava's age last year.

Here's Irish Twins Take 1. And the lucky encounter we had with Santa an hour later, after his break to go and feed the reindeer. Emma slowlllly climbs down the stairs.

**I couldn't post them all on correct order with Blogger Mobile. I will try and fix it on Monday.

Thankfulness, Day 30

Aren't you so happy this month is over?! That I will stop posting things that revolve around me and my thankfulness?!

Feel free to express how you really feel. I will below. ;)

I have a whole lot to me thankful for. I'm so blessed by my kids, husband, family, friends, job, etc.  And I will nos continue to practice it throughout the year, not just around Thanksgiving.

I am thankful too that November is over today. 

Thankfulness, Day 29

Today I am thankful for songs like:

"Don't! Don't! Don't bite your friends!"

..or

"Clean up! Clean up! Everybody do their share!"

Makes life with these two better when they don't listen.

Thankfulness, Day 28

Today I am thankful for vacation time and having two little girls to dress up in matching holiday dresses.
Today I got to pretend I was a SAHM amongst the rest of them. All while waiting in line to meet Santa in a very snooty city. We heard the Santa was better there than the one in the mall. And he was.

Due to a closed day care, I am playing SAHM. I'm not getting the things done that I had planned all weekend, but the start of my antibiotics should clear that up.

Oh and I'm thankful for my medical coverage and the ability to have phone doctor appointments while having the meds prescribed to another location within the coverage area. Zero copay and short drive!

Thankfulness, Day 26 and 27

I have been fighting a nasty cold turned sinus infection, etc. So today is my double day. ;)

I am thankful that my girls get experience the magic of Christmas! Slowly decorating the house this weekend has been very exciting for them, and me.

Happy *beginning* of the holidays!

Thankfulness, Day 25

Today I am thankful for my hard working (sales) husband. Black Friday and the days before and after are hell for him, yet he goes to work, works hard and comes home and plays with his kids. I couldn't do the job he does ... Which he does a great job at!

So if you are out shopping this weekend, please be nice to those sales people. They are exhausted.

Thankfulness, Day 24

Happy Thanksgiving! In summary, I have a lot to be thankful and I give all thanks to God. I am thankful to be in such a loving family and to have all that I have. And for this blog and my handful if readers... Thank you for reading and chiming in when you do. It really makes my day. Like more than ice cream (and that says a lot).

Have a great day! Off to wash the Pioneer Woman's brine off Miss Turkey and place her gently into the warm oven.

Thankfulness, Day 23

Today I am thankful that both girls are fever free in time for me to clean the house (like the queen is coming (my Grandma) which I learned from my mom) and cook/bake like a mad woman for Thanksgiving AND Black Friday for my husbands' crew at work.

Thankfulness, Day 22

Today I am thankful for our day care provider. She runs a home day care and loves our girls just as much as their family does! While it is just two days a week, they have learned their ABCs, 123s, lullabies and even yoga! They understand Spanish and they learned to say "agua" which is used instead of the English version.

I can never thank her enough for the love and care my girls get (along side their cousins too!). We are truly blessed!

Thankfulness, Day 21

Today I am thankful for little reminders of how important and special you are in your child's life. When life with toddlers (and two of them!) gets hectic or crazy with their newly learned skills (hello kicking/tantrums and 3-year-old attitude!), you must try and be patient and not yell or get angry.

Yesterday we had a long day with my mom. We weren't traveling with my other half of my family to the funeral in Utah. But the other half was together. We needed it.

Anyways, we had a long day and Emma was extremely tired. Falling asleep on the couch at 6 p.m. (no way Miss Little Emma Lou!) and not staying awake as propped her up in the chair at the dinner table. I got her to eat after giving her two candy corns (bad mom, I know- but I wasn't going to be up all night!), and the sugar rush got her to stay awake until we took the car ride home.

She was so upset when we got home and I put her to bed. She wouldn't stop crying or fussing. I tried Tylenol and warm milk. Back rubs. Everything.

I finally went to the old days and the old tricks to get a baby/child to sleep. I rocked her in the glider chair and whispered lullabies in her ear. That did it. And I sat there for at least 15 minutes after because I knew these times would be less and less as they get older.

It was kind of magical. That's what I'm thankful for. I have the energy/patience (sometimes) to look at the little toddler/baby things and breathe it all in. Before you know it, it's gone.

Thankfulness, Day 20

Today I am grateful for drive-thrus. Traveling isn't ever fun or excting when the time passes from minutes- to hours- to days.

You can pack snacks galore, but when it comes down to it-- when you travel, you really want to experience that taste of fast food. The thrill of drinking your ice cold soda in the car and the smell of salty-crispy french fries. And the gas station coffee station. I'm really not sure why, but I get so excited for the choices that are put in front of me at a gas station coffee station.

And once the girls were out of infant carriers and it wasn't as easy to get them in and out for the occasional coffee. Drive thrus save my sanity!

You (I) are (am) a winner!

YIPEE!!! I am a winner! I won these hair clips from Here We Go Again:

Are they the most adorable clips you've ever seen?! Thanks Jen!

Also, can you believe it?! I was a winner of another giveaway! I won an e-book called "E-Licious" by The Newlyweds author/blogger, Jenna, from one of my FAVORITE blogs, "I'm Living Proof That God Has a Sense of Humor," written by Helene.

What is even cooler about Helene and her blog, is that we recently noticed that we both live relatively close to one another in the Bay Area. And I am honored by winning this great e-book that will help me cook more for my family and more often, not relying on frozen chicken nuggets or the go-to can of Spaghetti O's.

You can buy it for $4.99 if it looks intriguing by clicking here (use HELENE20 for 20% off).

Thank you ladies, you truly made my week!

Thankfulness, Day 19

Today I am thankful for the bond of family. Whenever a life event happens, you are reminded of the bond that a family shares. You stick together like glue and all of the previous frustrations/fights/whatever disappear and you bond together to support one another.

Loosing someone to death is hard. It's always hard. Even if you were expecting it or not. It still stings and you go through the cycle of the 'grief emotions.'

Through reading blogs and witnessing the words being written about experiencing baby loss, pregnancy loss, child loss, parent loss, sibling loss; I tend to watch my words more carefully when writing or saying my condolences. I wouldn't of learned this without the blogging world. About what is proper to say without really hurting someone's feelings without knowing it.

When supporting my family during the loss of a great, wonderful man... who was my dad's brother and my favorite uncle, I have found that just offering physical/materialistic support is best. I don't want to say the wrong thing or mention how 'he's not hurting anymore' to those of my family members that were his children or wife, but traveling across states to be there to say goodbye is what matters.

The grieving loss feeling doesn't end there, it never ends. It just gets a bit easier as the hours or days or months pass by.

Thankfulness, Day 18

Today I am thankful for coffee. Yes, coffee. Love it. Have to have it. Understand now why mommies need it. It allows you to escape for one moment of smelling the aroma and tasting the caffeine your body is begging for!

Everytime we are leaving or in the car approaching the drive-thru for coffee, my girls always ask "Mommy, do you need coffee?!" And yes, darling little loves, yes, mommy needs coffee. :)

Today is World Preemie Day

I wouldn't say, "Happy World Prematurity Day!" but I will say, please read up on prematurity and the causes of premature babies. It happens a lot (13 million a year in the world) and we need more research on ALL causes.

I wear my "Cure Preclampsia" button on my blog page proudly because I was affected by it and so was Ava, being born premature. One in 12 pregnancies are affected preclampsia. One pregnant person you may see in a week, is affected by it. Isn't that scary?

What isn't scary is the amount of information available online about the subject which can help educate those who may not know they have it or might have it. Here are the 10 things you should be aware of in regards to preclampsia (and many of these I did experience before going to the hospital and delivering Ava) whether you know you have it or not:

10.          Headache
9.            Pain in upper right ribcage
8.            Swelling, particularly in your hands, face and ankles
7.            Visual disturbances
6.            Increased restlessness or irritability
5.            Persistent nausea and vomiting in the third trimester
4.            Significant shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
3.            Dark urine/protein in urine
2.            High blood pressure
1.            The feeling that something “just isn’t right”

 Souce: The Promise Walk for Preclampsia Blog

Thankfulness, Day 17

Today I am thankful for medicine. Modern medicine. OTC medicine, like the NyQuil I took last night to help me sleep. Third cold in a month and a half. Enough said. And for the tough and heart-breaking news I got last night about my dear uncle passing away (the meds helped me sleep from the cold and roughness). Please say a quick prayer for my entire family- we are all hurting over the pain of loosing someone close to us.

Thankfulness, Day 16

Today I am thankful for the girls' Nana, Papa, Papa Abuelo, GG, Papi and all of their in-law grandparents. They all love my girls almost just as much as I do and we are so overly blessed for that.

Kangaroos!

When Ava was in the NICU, it was important that she was swaddled so not that she was warm, but so her surroundings recreated the environment of my womb.

Preemie care is overly important. In my experience, I was given the opportunity to take a class at the hospital, before I was discharged, about preemie care. I didn't know what to expect, but I am so glad I went and learned about how to care for Ava and what to watch for in her signs of distress.

The thing I always remember when I see any baby (full term, preemie, etc.) is where their hands are. I was taught that the signs of a distressed baby is when their hands are stretched out away from their body and like they want to give you a high-five. It may look cute, but that baby is not comfy. I remember when the Octuplet mom was on TV and showing herself to the world via Dr. Phil, she went in the NICU showing the audience each baby. She would approach each isolette, say hello to the babies and reach her hands into them. She would stroke their heads... and immediately their hands will flail out and fingers would be stretched out into the high-five stance. This made me so mad. How could a mother of so many children, especially the EIGHT that were currently in the hospital-- and not get a clue to how to care for them?! Did not any of the nurses let her know this. I think not. (End of that rant!)

Kangaroo care was also very important. This is when you hold and bond with your baby skin-to-skin. To read more about it, click here. This is for mommies and daddies. When your baby in the NICU, this is the closest you get to be with your baby and I remembered sensing a calmness from Ava. It's also very important to hold your baby 'kangaroo' style when they are getting their feedings through their tube, so they associate feedings with warmth and mommy/daddy.

There are lots of other key things to preemie care, but these have been the ones on my mind and the ones I associate with Ava as a baby.

Thankfulness, Day 15

Today I am thankful for food and my love for it. (This may be a petty post, but Thanksgiving is almost here-- and it is, a holiday for eating and being thankful). I may be over weight and may over indudge when it's dessert time-- but without my love for food, I wouldn't get to experience life in a fabulous way!

My husband has taught me a lot about food. I never liked garlic or onions or spicy things and definitely not sushi-- before I met him.

Today in my Things Pinterest Made Me Do blog, I posted a fabulous and delicious recipe that takes me back to when I was in high school. Two words: Zebra Bars. Go... go check out the recipe!!! I promise you chocolate and cheesecake.

Some people are having a really tough time with finances and putting food on their tables for Thanksgiving, or dinner any night of the week. Scary Mommy is doing a great thing-- she is asking for her readers to help provide funding for half of a Thanksgiving meal, $25. If you are interested, leave a comment on this post and she will be sure to contact you (leave your e-mail with your comment).

World Prematurity Day is Nov. 17

Did you know that World Prematurity Day is Nov. 17? I just found out and would like to celebrate the day with spreading knowledge.

I follow Project Sweet Pea on my blogroll and on Facebook and was alerted about World Prematurity Day. I will celebrate Ava, her health and the little miracle that she is.

If you visit Project Sweet Pea's Web site, you will see that they are a project that offers gift packages for NICU parents and family members. They have a great list of resources and local projects that you can support, or make your own! Also, on the site you can request a gift package, by clicking here.

About three months old (one month adjusted).

A little tid bit: Every year 13 million babies are born prematurely worldwide. One million of these babies will die. Those babies that do survive often face lifelong struggles, including cerebral palsy, developmental delays, chronic lung disease and vision and hearing loss.
Source: Project Sweet Pea's Facebook page post.

Thankfulness, Day 14

Today I am thankful that God blessed me with Emma in the most shocking way!

It made my girls best friends early in life. Playmates since day one. Just look at them!

Thankfulness, Day 13

Today I am thankful for lazy mornings in bed with cuddling and warm cups of milk.

Thankfulness, Day 12

Today I am grateful for all of the toys that are piled up in the toy box, flowing over the toy box, and the ones that have been thrown, tossed or dropped across the playroom.
I tend to realize that I keep all of these toys because I want my girls to have every single toy I wanted as a little girl that I didn't get to have. I remember. The play kitchen and all of its accessories. Dolly diapers. Over 10 dress-up dresses and more!
So cheers to cleaning out the playroom today! We're going to be battling a lot over what they need and/or don't need to keep (if they catch me- that is!) before Santa makes his way to our house.

Thankfulness, Day 11

Today I am thankful for all of the service men and women that protect our country everyday, either on U.S. ground or overseas. We take this for granted and only until we are directly effected, do we think about it.
So thank you. Thank you to everyone who has served and who is serving.
And should I be so unique to say: God bless America!

Thankfulness, Day 10

Today I am thankful for my health. I may have issues of being overweight, high blood pressure and now I may have to wear glasses all of the time. But, I am healthy. I have both legs, both arms, fingers, hearing, etc. so that I can raise my family and take care of them.

Things like that I take for granted, I will not anymore.

Thankfulness, Day 9

Today I am thankful for my job. It's really the ideal situation with a mommy with two young kids (part time SAHM) and I'm good at it (been there for six years).

And during these tough times, I am employed and blessed with medical benefits.

Thankfulness, Day 8

Today I am grateful for my friends. All of you!!!!! My best friends, my childhood friends, my mommy friends, blogging friends, and my family-friends.

Without you, I wouldn't have the strength, patience or calm head-- if you weren't there to pick up the phone when I called, responded to my annoying responding-texts at 3 a.m. when I'm up with a sick baby, or hung out with me when I desperately needed it.

Girlfriends are the best medicine. And I'm so lucky to have all of you in my life!

Thankfulness, Day 7

Today I am thankful for my siblings. They are great. They don't make things TOO complicated and they love my kids!!
We are two years apart; I am the oldest, I have a little brother who just turned 30 (old little man!) and I have a little sister.
Even if you aren't reading this-- I love you both so much and am grateful we like each other. ;)

Thankfulness, Day 6

Today I am thankful for my parents. Especially my mom. It is so true when they say you become so close to your mom when you move out, get married and have babies.
My mom is my best friend. She is my go to when I need parenting advice, and she is the best Nana!

Thankfulness, Day 5

Today and everyday, I am thankful for my faith in God. He guides me, forgives me and loves me.... And the person I have to thank for teaching me is my mom. She taught me how to pray and taught me about Jesus and lead me to life with Jesus.

Thankfulness, Day 4

Today I am thankful for my house, the roof over my head and warm blankets. To protect my family from the cold ... including those pesky pets of ours. :)
With our house... I am so thankful that we were able to find the perfect house for us, have our offer excepted and all of the loan papers go through perfectly. And I am thankful that everyday, after a long commute we love it and the kids love it.

Thankfulness, Day 3

Today I am thankful for my two beautiful children. I always wanted to have a girl.... And I have been blessed with two. I am thankful that they are healthy, best friends and my little best friends.

Thankfulness, Day 2

Today I am thankful for my husband. I am thankful that I met him, kissed him, accepted his offer to be his wife, married him and then made two beautiful babies with him.
Without him I wouldn't have any of the treasures I have today or the wisdom that I have learned during our nine years together.

30 days of Thankfulness, Day 1

I am joining many of my friends on Facebook, 30 Days of Thankfulness. Join me? You could post a sentence, picture or whatever floats your boat.

Today I am thankful for my health and my families' health.

When Ava was in the hospital I truly learned the meaning of that statement. With health, you have everything. Life is precious and sickness shouldn't remind you of that.

Happy November everyone!

The crazy pastries: strawberries and blueberries... oh my!

Halloween night was a blast!

Ava was a great Blueberry Muffin and Emma rocked the Strawberry Shortcake charm.

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween everyone!

Best wishes for a fun and safe night amongst all of the trick-or-treaters, either yours or theirs. :)

We will be trick-or-treating with the girls' cousin who lived two blocks from my parents, along with her parents, my parents and my sister (aka Auntie E).

Sharing is caring

Sharing in our household has come a verrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry lonnnnnnnnnnngggg way.

As you can imagine, they had to learn sharing early on. Well at least Ava did; at one-year-old. And today, I can say, she is the best sharer I know. In ballet class today, they had a Halloween party. One of the little girls' moms prepared a bunch of Halloween goodie bags for the ballerinas. Well Emma is not a ballerina anymore due to her shyness/age and did not receive a bag.

Ava was so willing to share with Emma today. I asked her to share with her and she did it... like above and beyond. She gave Emma the only chocolate candy (M&Ms) and shared the 2-pack Starburst candies with her too! I was so proud and smiling from ear-to-ear.

She is the perfect big sister and the perfect sister for Emma. Because if all of that sharing didn't happen, Emma would of been rolling on the ground whining, crying for candy with snotty, red eyes.

Halloween costumes revealed

As much as a three or two-year-old loves to be challenging, my girls went back and forth on what they wanted to be for Halloween.
Did your kids do that this early?!
Emma settled on Strawberry Shortcake and Ava on Strawberry's BFF/side kick Blueberry Muffin.
So cute. They LOVE their costumes so much and tell everyone who they are going to be.

Cheap thrills

Play Doh is a timeless 'toy' or activity, right? Something about the feeling as smushing the dough and creating and recreating things with your hands. And the smell.

We receiving a baby sized container of some red Play Doh as a Halloween gift and the girls enjoyed playing with. So I bought some more. And realized how cheap it was.. and that I could probably make it. But what isn't cheap are the 'extras' you can buy to use with the dough. I said heck with that!

I fished out my random collection of cookie cutters, two plastic cutting placemats and a little plastic cup for rolling. The girls were thrilled!

Cost: Play Doh $2 for two containers; everything else was free/on hand.

Woo hoo! Great rainy day project.

Luckily I don't have carpet or the girls would only experience Play Doh at day care or a friends' house.

'Where's the Love?' Wednesday

Happy Wednesday! I'll get straight to it for this week's edition of "Where's the Love?" courtesy of Miss Abby from Akers of Love. This month she's been doing a month of adoption posts and I have really enjoyed all of them.

This week I am LOVING (like L-O-V-I-N-G, kissing in a tree and the whole sh-bang), pinterest.com. I've read here and there about bloggers that love it and 'pin' stuff and make the 'pins' and didn't really read into it. I didn't think I needed another Web site to check out, or, ummm... get overly addicted to.

And here we are! Addicted to pinterest.com so much that I started a new blog. So let's throw out the etiquette on self promoting, because I wanted to highlight the blog I started with my dear friend, Michelle, who invited me and got me addicted to the site. Our blog is called "Things Pinterest Made Me Do..."

You know you have a submission you want to post, don't ya?! :) Cookies, crafts, frames, funny sayings that made it to posters, dreams of your dream home, etc.

Check it out! We're still fine tuning the site, but already have a 'pin' just completed so stay tuned! So again, go to http://pinterestfans.blogspot.com.

Where is your love this week? Let Abby know here.

'Celebrating Kindependence'

I received an e-mail from the lovely staff members at Pampers Kandoo about a contest that they are holding about "Celebrating Kindependence." (If you are interested in entering, scroll to the end of my post.)

What is 'kindependence' you might ask? It's the child-sized version of "I can do it myself."

Ring a bell anyone? That two-year-old that "I can do it!!!!" when putting on their shoes or buttering their toast.

Let me give you another perfect example where my children are constantly practicing the "I can do it myself" kindependence.

Potty training as anyone knows is a daunting task that parents near and wide, dread. You dread it because you know your days will be filled with bodily functions, lots of laundry, a high water bill, and a new-found loss of patience.

I can now say that both of my girls, have proved that they are out of the baby stage because they are both potty trained. (Can I get an WOO HOO!!!!!!!!!!!!) Now this may come at a shock to all of you, but I have been mourning this new 'kindependence' that they have both earned. I am mourning because both of my 'babies' are no longer babies. They have reached the milestone of exiting babyhood. Even though a two-year-old or almost three-year-old, is truly not a baby, they might still be in diapers/pull-ups or potty training, but not full on going pee-on-potty. It's not that they don't need my help sometimes, but usually they can do the potty thing themselves.

I am honored to say that not only one, but both of my girls, are being celebrated. I have been thinking of ways of celebrating their HUGE milestone of mastering the potty training deal: learning to hold their bodily functions in long car rides (remember we commute), waiting for their turn on the potty, cheering each other on each morning after dry sheets are achieved.

None other than any milestone, this one is huge. They are exiting babyhood and entering kidhood.

Therefore, I celebrate my girls and their new 'kindependence' and will go and buy them Princess dolls and/or sparkly black glitter princess shoes and/or the new Halloween Barbie, for this huge achievement.

I keep in mind that there are many, many more milestones to hit because the issues down the road will become more complex and less physically demanding. I will cherish this 'ah-ha' moment knowing times ahead will be in the rough. But now, I will celebrate by doing the happiest 'happy dance' you've ever seen! (No video, sorry!)

If you are interested in entering a blog post about how your children are 'celebrating kindependence' click here to the contest's Web site. Deadline is Oct. 31.

www.pamperskandoo.com/Kindependence

Creative minds think alike

I'd like to think creative minds think alike, like the famous saying goes, right? I may be creative in my own ways, but not as creative as the people on Pinterest or as one of my favorite bloggers, Mrs. Priss. Recently, the creative momma posted a post about how to make cute little pumpkin decorations with stuff you probably and most likely have around the house. They are called Toliet Paper Pumpkins and if you follow the link here, it will take you to her post on how to make them.

I'm going to make a ton!!! Too bad they didn't make tiny rolls of T.P. haha. I would make little pumpkin place markers for Thanksgiving dinner for everyone!!!

Oh and if you haven't been to Pinterest.com, you are missing out of HOURS and I mean, HOURS, of wasted time on the internet, but you walk away with LOTS of inspiration for art projects, home projects, and a stalk of to-do's for the honey to-do list.

Art project revealed!

I just realized (after joining Pinterest -thanks Michelle!) that I never showed the final picture of my DIY art project for the girls' playroom. If you remember, I was having a hard time keeping up with and loving (like all, not most, ALL parents) with all of the artwork that the girls come home with from day care. I love every piece and I love that they bring it all home. But I was finding that it was just landing in piles while getting lost in the "important-to be hanged" pile or the "bill" pile, etc.

Here's the final picture!

The girls love hanging their art and I love looking at it when we go and play in that room. I ended up using some dark purple yarn that I had laying around and some clear push pins, along with the clothespins.

Super easy, fun and cheap!

Pumpkin festivities begin!

The girls and I headed to the pumpkin patch at this ginormous farm in Lathrop, CA. The farm is called Dell' Osso Farms and we had a blast! The farm is home to a huge corn maze, which we didn't go through.

Support JDRF and Elyssa

My friend, Racheal, I've known since middle school (and reconnected through Facebook recently) has a beautiful little girl named Elyssa. Her daughter was just diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes this year in July. They are both strong and Rachael is amazing.

She made a little video about Elyssa's journey that you can see by clicking here.

Please keep this beautiful little girl and her strong, family in your thoughts and prayers. No child should have to go through this. And with a small donation, you can make sure that research can go just a little further for children as beautiful as her.

If you are interested in following their journey, Racheal writes a blog called Life with Elyssa and Type 1 Diabetes.

It's a 'shape'

My mom and I took the girls to the doctors yesterday for their well baby visits, I guess they aren't well babies anymore, they are big girl visits? Check-ups? How about, princess tiara fittings, because they still do measure the size of their heads and now use the height thingy to see how tall they are.

So we're in the hallway where we are *attempting* to get weighed, measured and have our blood pressure taken (just Ava, I guess it's a new 3-year-old thing), while trying to get them to stop crying and screaming in fear of the weight machine. ??? Anyone else's kids do this? Oh, just mine? I was hoping not.

So we get to the eye chart and the nurse asks her what the shapes are?

Nurse: What is this?
Ava: Hmm...... (silence)
Mommy: What shape is that, Ava?
Ava: Apple!
Nurse: Good, what is this?
Ava: Hmm...... I don't know.
Nurse: Circle?
Ava: Circle!
Nurse: This one?
Ava: Ummm..... hmmm.... it's a .... shape!
Nurse: Uh yeah. I'll go with that, it's a square. How old is she?
Mommy: Three.
Nurse: Oh, really?
Mommy: Um YES! She is three, adjusted age by two months because she was born early and la la la. 

I was so embarrassed. I know she knows what a square is. I know she's only three, but she is three. And I know I need to get my butt in gear for both of them for the next time they are asking so they'll proudly answer with the corresponding answer!

And I know I shouldn't be embarrassed. Both of my kids-- kick butt! They are smart, caring, sweet, athletic, etc. But I should also remember what just happened, Ava squeezing herself out of my grasp while trying to sit in the blood pressure chair (hey girlie, I don't like it either!), refusing to stand on the weight scale, etc.

Sometimes us mommies have to give ourselves some slack and that is what I will/was/going to do!

'Where's the Love?' Wednesday ... a NICU graduation

This past weekend I attended a NICU graduation event at the hospital that Ava was born at and spent most of the first five weeks (minus a week and a half that was spent at another hospital in the same network) of her life. This event is one of the most wonderful events I've attended and has been our second time. The first event we attended, Emma was just two and a half months old, making Ava just14 and a half months old. So we didn't get to play the games, get our hair braided, etc.

Dirt and sunlight

The last night before the rain started to fall (for a day) in sunny CA, the girls and I headed outside to the backyard to catch some rays and burn off some steam.

'Where's the Love?' Wednesday

What I'm loving this week... (hosted by the lovely Abby at Akers of Love)

The love this week is the fact that Emma is potty trained! YIPPEEE!!!

'Day in the Life'

Here goes nothing! Thanks to Navigating the Mothership for hosting this month's Day in the life.

I chose Sunday, Oct. 2, as the Day in the Life. (Most of the picture were taken on my phone- so most are blurry. Sorry!)

'Look what I found, daddy!'

Ever hear those words sputtered by one of your offspring?

"Look what I found, daddy/mommy/Grandma/etc?"

It's usually a boogie, bug, or an old, dried up raisin that resembles a boogie.

Well, let me take you on a hilarious short story that I was just told by my wonderful, loving husband (based on my awful memory).

***

While sitting in the barber's chair at my husband's hair cut, my girls were sitting very nicely watching cartoons in plastic, waiting room chairs. All was well with the world and they are usually better behaved when they are with him.

Until he heard this:

Ava: "Daddy, look at what I found, daddy!" racing around from the other side of the corner of the waiting room.
Daddy: "What did you find, Ava? Bring it over here!"

Ava races back to the waiting room side and brings back her treasure for daddy.

(Can you guess what it is?!)

Ava: "Look daddy! Look what I found!"
Daddy: "What is it? Who's is it?"
Ava: "It's Emma's. Emma did it."

Daddy thinks it's a chewed up piece of tootsie roll that she found on the ground. He holds it or gives it back, I'm not sure. I'm guessing he throws it away.

Ava: "It's Emma's!"

Once the haircut is over, he goes to Ava and smells her hands.

It was a piece of poop.

Daddy is speechless.

'You are at war'

After having a lovely morning commute conversation with my dear Grandma, she asked how we were doing!

"Oh, we're doing great!" I said.

"That's great, honey!" my Grandma responded.

"Well, we are potty training Emma. And that's hard. And she's refusing to go and then five minutes later is peeing on the floor. And I've had it. I know she's wining and I know I need to control my anxiety and patience. But I can't. It's so hard. Why is this happening? She knows what she's doing. She knows that she can do it, but she isn't," I said over and over and over again.

"Well yes, you are at war!" she said.

"Yes, that's it. We are at war, so I guess we aren't doing so well," I finished.

'Bon-bon' time

You know. That phrase or statement. Stay-at-home moms just sit around and eat bon-bons all day. Yeah, right!

Well maybe. After cleaning, wiping noses and/or butts, changing the sheets, doing the laundry, cleaning the bathrooms and tubs and sinks, making mental notes for Christmas presents, making sure "Calliou" is on again, taking out the chicken out of the freeze so it's ready for dinnertime, etc.

We do have 'bon-bon' time! At least I do. It's called naptime. Naptime is not only for the children, just as much as it is for the mommies/daddies. Taking care of children and households is exhausting! And right around 2-3 p.m., when the house is finally quiet after skipping back upstairs to tell the children that it IS naptime, to go to sleep and stop climbing into the other bed. That's when you quietly and carefully scour the kitchen for the hidden chocolate/ice cream/candy bars/energy drink that you have been thinking about all day.

Happy 'adjusted age' birthday, Ava!

Today is Sept. 19. This was Ava's due date. As you know, she was born early at only 32 weeks and 2.5 days. Sept. 19 will forever be ingrained into my mind as every doctor, physical therapy and NICU follow-up always brings it up.

Luckily, our girl is perfect and you'd never know how frightening the first few weeks of her life were.

And... If the girls REALLY hate sharing their birthday, Ava can always have today.

How do you say: 'you were born very early' to a 3-year-old?

The girls and I were sitting one night on the couch looking at pictures. Pictures of birthday parties, pictures of their Nana, pictures of Emma as a baby, pictures of Lucy and Sabath, and pictures of Ava as a baby.

Ava became very upset about her baby pictures. She was sort of afraid (for a split second) about the NICU pictures we have of her. She didn't like them. She said "noo, mommy! That's not baby Ava, that another baby." I wasn't sure of what to say, in the proper wording so I wouldn't freak her out.

I told her that she was born so very little and that she had to be kept in the hospital so that she could grow and grow and grow. That she needed the bandaid on her face so she could eat through her eating tube.

Right there, "No mommy! That's not baby Ava. This is baby Ava" (pointing to a picture of baby Emma).

I'm wondering, what are the right things to say and explain about just how special she was and still is, to a 3-year-old?!

Potty girl Emma! .. take two!

I have a goal this week, starting tomorrow. A goal I've had since Emma was born.

I am going to potty train Emma this weekend and will hopefully succeed.

My plan is to do what I did with Ava. Take off the pull-ups and let the girl roam free. She has her big sister to cheer her on and for moral support (and to share the win for those tasty, colorful M&Ms).

Wish us luck! This is the hardest week (besides the first week of infancy). The days of having to bring numerous outfits everywhere we go, changing peed on clothes in parking lots and lots of frustration.

Let's go EMMA!!!

We will never forget.

We will never forget what happened on 9/11. Thank you to all that protect our freedoms and those that appear to protect us after we call 911. And prayers and thoughts to those that have to relive those horrific events that happened 10 years ago.

Fairies, wings and princesses ... oh my!

Without further adieu, I present you a photo essay of my Ava's 3rd and Emma's 2nd birthday party!

Art project

I am happy to announce that I have completed (almost) my first art project with the girls! :) I have had this grand plan to hang up their artwork as they come home with it from day care since the first day it started collecting in my drawers, walls, fridge doors, etc. I came across a photo of a string of photos perfectly placed with a decorated clothes pin that zig-zagged across a wall and fell in love with it!

I have to state that I was so thrilled when I was able to lead this project with patience and without paint everywhere! And I did!

Knock, knock

Had a fun ride home yesterday when Ava and Emma busted out with knock-knock jokes??!?!!!!!!!!!! :) It was the most precious and funniest thing I have ever heard! They went a little something like this:

Ava: Knock, knock
Emma: Hoo there
Ava: Orange juice
Emma: Orage ju hoo
Ava: Orange juice for everybody!

Emma: Na, na
Ava: Who's thereeee???!!!
Emma: Appey ju
Ava: Apple juice for everybody!!!

Coupon alert! Coupon alert!

I bring you this post today to let you know that Pampers Kandoo has alerted me (and many other bloggers and e-mail subscribers) that they will have a coupon in this Sunday's newspaper. I only use this as the generic ones don't seem as 'flushable' as the Kandoo ones. And every time you buy a refill, you get a new wipe holder! And you know what's good for all of the extra wipe holders?! Store your extra grocery shopping bags in them so they don't create a mess under the kitchen sink in which they come out efficiently and one-at-a-time.

Pampers Kandoo will feature an introductory $1 off coupon good for any Kandoo Soap, Shampoo, Body Wash or Sanitizer AND a $0.50 coupon good for any package of Flushable Wipes in the SmartSource insert in select U.S. newspapers.

For more information about their products, visit http://www.pamperskandoo.com
Enjoy!

***I am not being paid to write this blog, just have a chance to win a Kandoo Goodie box filled
with products and … goodies. Wish me luck!***

3 going on ... 11, 12? 15??

Having a 3 year old in the house, and a 2 year old in the house..... and having just celebrated their big day-- I have also celebrated the fact that I now fully understand a phrase I've heard all of my life.

'She's 5 going on 16!!!!!!!'
'Wait until she's 16, she will think she's 24!'

Yes, we're there. Ava is now 3 going on 13. Full-on attitude, hitting, kicking, and a charming little bugger! We have had to reinforce the time-outs and the 1's, 2's and the 3's... but haven't had to get to 3 in a while. She's already put herself in time-out.

Now Emma, who is 2 going on 3.... she's still her sweet, quiet self.

But she follows Ava everywhere and does exactly the thing that Ava just did. We're in a world of trouble.

And if I'm disciplining Ava, or Emma, the other will come at me with: "Don't yell at my sister Emma! She's my best friend!!!!!!!!!!" with the meaniest, little puppy dog mad face, you ever did see!